Just Desserts
by Rayne Hargreaves
Summary: A oneshot collection focusing on Tifa Lockhart and her main pairings CloTi, VinTi, and RenTi, each chapter with a different dessert as a theme.


**JUST DESSERTS  
**_VinTi One-Shot Number One  
1047 words._

Cherry Chocolates

* * *

. o . o . o . o .

She was lingering near Vincent again. It seemed to happen every time he visited the bar. She'd wander near him, closer and closer, until he finally turned dark red eyes on her figure, questioning but kind, and embarrassed, she'd skitter back behind the counter just to start it all over again.

Tifa thought that it was cute. She'd even managed to get a picture.

"Marlene...why don't you talk to Vincent? You know the both of you are friends now."

In the two years between Meteor and the battle against Kadaj, Vincent had been a frequent visitor to Seventh Heaven. His and Marlene's friendship had been tentative at first, but eventually both had warmed up to each other to the point that "he let me hide in his cloak right away when Cloud was being a butt-head", or so Marlene said.

Tifa knew more than anyone else that for Vincent, allowance of physical contact was a sign of trust and acceptance in another.

"I know, but I'm still shy," the little girl confessed in a hushed whisper. Tifa smiled and kneelled down behind the counter to meet her eye level.

"What do you want to ask him?"

"Well...you know when I was in the Forgotten City? I wanted to talk to you to make sure you were okay, but Cloud lost his phone, so I asked Vincent if I could please borrow his, but he didn't have a phone, so I thought that since he's coming to visit more often and he still doesn't have a phone maybe he should get a nice one so we could have his number and he could have ours and we'd be able to keep in touch even when he was away," Marlene blurted out in one breath.

"That's a wonderful idea," Tifa smiled. "Why don't we ask him together?"

"Now? Like...now?"

"Yes sweetie, now. Come on." The brunette lead a suddenly anxious Marlene over to the booth where Vincent was reading, the early sunlight highlighting his regal features and the amusement in his eyes when he saw them coming.

"Have you finally decided to ask your question?" he inquired. She squeaked, flustered when she realized her actions probably disturbed his reading time.

"Y-Yes!" Marlene turned to Tifa, who nodded in encouragement. "I was wondering, since you visit us a lot more maybe you could get a phone so we could keep in touch with you when you're gone?"

Vincent's gave them a faint smile underneath his cowl. "I was planning on going there this afternoon, but we may go now, if that is what you wish."

"I'll get ready!" Her mood quickly changed, excitement showing visibly on Marlene's face as she shot up the stairs.

"...You should really stop teasing her. She might start thinking that she bothers you."

"Quite the contrary. We have a mutual understanding."

"I thought _we _had a mutal understanding." The corner of Tifa's mouth rose up in a smirk.

Vincent chuckled and took Marlene's hand as she came down. "We will return shortly."

. o . o . o . o .

They stayed for over an hour, looking over different phone plans and styles. Vincent didn't think that he'd use his phone that much, but Marlene assured him that once he got his phone, Yuffie would somehow get his number and spam his inbox with text and picture messages, so maybe he'd want caller-ID? She also mentioned that owing to the fact that he traveled a lot, he would probably want a plan that allowed for her and Tifa to call him long-distance without being charged too much.

Vincent lost her at 'spam' and 'text messages'. But whatever that was, he was sure that he didn't want Yuffie calling him on his phone. At all. Though the long-distance charges did make sense to him.

A cheery tune suddenly rang out in the shop, and Vincent glanced down at Marlene to see her pull out a small flip-phone. "It's Tifa," she chirped. "'Suse me." The little girl started chatting with her guardian, and try as he might, he couldn't help but listen.

"No, he hasn't yet. Oh, I showed him those. He doesn't like them. No, not those either. Those ones? I think he might like those, I'll show them to him next. ...Really? Okay! I'll tell him. Kay. Bye bye!" Marlene hung up and ushered him over to a particular stand.

"Tifa said you might like these ones!"

The name in and of itself was amusing enough. "Chocolates?"

"Since you don't like flip-phone's like Cloud's, maybe you'll like slide-phones? The Chocolates would be perfect! And plus, they're called Chocolates." She beamed at him. Vincent _loved _chocolate. Gourmet chocolate especially. She knew because she caught him (on more than one occasion) sneaking one of Tifa's special-occasion bonbons out of the pantry. "Regular Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, Strawberry Chocolate, Cherry Chocolate-"

"Cherry Chocolate will be fine," he murmured.

"Okay, let's go get it then!"

"Marlene..." He pulled gently on her hand to stop her. "What about the plan?"

"Oh, Tifa was thinking that we could add you to our family plan...that is, if you'd like to be added to it," she finished shyly.

He stood so still for the longest moment that Marlene thought he'd been Petrified. But finally he nodded, eyes swimming with unreadable emotions. "That would be...wonderful. Thank you Marlene."

"Thank Tifa!" she beamed. Seeing as Vincent was looking slightly dazed and wasn't making any movement to buying his phone, Marlene took the job upon herself. She went to the counter, politely telling the lady that the man in the red cloak would please like a Cherry Chocolate slide-phone, and add him to the Lockhart family plan, you know, Tifa Lockhart who owned Seventh Heaven just a few streets away, yes her, so please wrap up the phone for us, thank you.

Vincent had come out of his reverie by the time she'd returned, wearing a thoughtful expression. "I have someplace to go before we return to the bar..."

. o . o . o . o .

"Cherry chocolate bonbons?"

"Hn."

_Beep beep bip- bip bip beep- beep beep beep bip._

"Don't think this makes up for sneaking my special-occasion bonbons from the pantry."

"Shall I make it up to you then?"

_Bip bip bip- beep bip beep- beep beep bip beep..._

_"..._Haa...you taste like Cherry Chocolates."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Um...

...Yeah...

I don't know what spawned this idea. At first it was going to be an innocent Vincent/Marlene friendship fic with some VinTi thrown in, and then this happens. Well, I suppose it _is _somewhat of an innocent Vincent/Marlene friendship fic with some VinTi thrown in, but I think I kind of screwed over the VinTi. Bleh. Is Vincent too OOC in this? I mean...I always imagine that, if Vincent got more screen time in AC, he'd be shown as more open than two years before. His actions with Marlene implied it, I think. But I might've gone too far...

This was written for my sister, who has a fetish for sibling love (not incest). She has a whole list lined up for me, so look forward to more crappily written oneshots.

Review please?

This goes down here! -rawr-  
Final Fantasy VII and its characters do not belong to me.

Kaythxbai.


End file.
